Survival
by H8orade
Summary: As things just seemed like they were going to be calm, a human crash lands in the Pridelands. How will the situation turn out when the lions and the human have an incredible distrust of each other?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: For those of you wondering what has happened to Hard Times in Mozambique, it has been discontinued after the recent release of information regarding The Lion Guard. This can be considered a sort of updated version of that story, however, there are going to be some major differences.**

* * *

In the vast African savannah, the sun was rising yet again on a new day. The Honey Badgers crawled up from their dens, the prey animals were back to grazing, and the lions were waking up from their slumber. For the lions of Pride Rock, however, this was not a typical day. It was a day that would be forever engrained in the minds of the entire pride, for this was the first full day that the Pridelands and the Outlands were formally allied, through Kovu and Kiara. The marriage, that happened only yesterday, was formalized by Rafiki, and the whole event was guarded by Simba's second child, Kion (who was now officially an adult), and his original guard, going all the way back to when Kiara and him were cubs. Of course, this was all groundbreaking, however, the day would consist of one other event. Something that would change the way all pridelanders thought. Something that stuck with the history of Simba's pride for ages. Something that nobody ever quite forgot.

Kovu and Kiara got a separate cave that night. Of course, this was standard tradition after marriage. So when Kovu woke up, he, naturally, roused his mate, despite his best attempts to leave without a sound. "Kovu, why are you up at this early hour" Kiara asked, still groggy and lying on the floor. Kovu sighed, turned around to Kiara, and stammered, "Uh… I have things to do. I have to talk to Simba, and go on morning patrol, and I still -" "Just lay down for a couple more moments, won't you? We still have to do all the dreamy stuff that new couples do" Kiara interrupted in a sarcastic tone. "Okay" Kovu laughed, turning around. "What kind of dreamy stuff did you have in mind, princess?" "That's queen, now, honey." Kiara replied. "Oh, right. I suppose that makes me King now, doesn't it?" Kiara opened her eyes as Kovu nuzzled her. "Not quite, Kovu."

"She's right, Kovu", said Simba, as he walked in, Kion in tow. "Since she's the one with royal blood, she's ultimately the leader. You can make small scale decisions, advise her on things, and settle disputes, but if she disagrees with you, her word is law." Kion chimed in, saying "And I intend to enforce the law to its fullest, you understand. Treat my sister with respect. You are less powerful than her." "Simba, Kion, couldn't you have sent some kind of warning? You barge in here, and have no idea what we could be doing" Kiara burst out. "Honey, I think they have a very good idea of what we could be doing" Kovu remarked, hoping to cheer up the mood. "Kovu!" Kiara spat back. "Sorry, Ki. Anyway, Kion, Simba, trust me when I tell you that I will treat Kiara with nothing but respect. I promise my life on that. And I'll give her the room she needs to rule the Kingdom. I just didn't know about this policy until now." Simba relaxed a bit, and gave Kovu a fatherly look, one that Kovu felt a bit of joy whenever he saw. "I trust you, Kovu. I'm just looking out for my daughter, that's all. Anyway, you don't have to go on patrol, Kovu. Kion, explain."

"Of course, dad. Kovu, as leader of the Lion Guard, I have arranged patrol routes three times a day with guard members. You and Kiara will be completely focused on creating and judging on the laws of the kingdom, while my guard and I are here to enforce." Kovu sighed in relief. "Hold on, Kovu. You haven't heard the second part of it" Kion added. "Oh, it shouldn't be anything I can't handle. Lay it on me" Kovu challenged. "Well, you and Kiara are going to have to settle whatever civil disputes there are" Kion replied. "That's it? That should be just fine!" With this remark, Simba muttered under his breath, "He has no idea."

"... and for every piece of my land that you dug tunnels under, you will lose that much land!" replied the Ibex, furious at the gopher that had tunnelled under his herd's supposedly designated land. "Why on earth are you so angry? We didn't tunnel up or anything! We only tunneled under your land!" Kovu sighed a bit as he listened to the petty squabble that he had to devote time to as if it were an actual problem. After two hours of hearing both sides of the argument, he finally got his say. "Listen, Mr…" he stammered for the name of the gopher. "Nchege" the gopher piped up. "Mr. Nchege, the land you tunneled under is property of the Ibexes". A small cheer broke out from the Ibex leader. "However…" Kovu continued, making the Ibex's face drop. "Mr. Nchege will not be losing any of his current land from this dispute." This made both animals groan a bit, complaining that they didn't get what they wanted, and that they were unsatisfied. "Guys, it's a compromise. None of you are supposed to get exactly what you want, the point is to come to a middle ground. Now I suggest you accept this compromise or I continue letting Mr. Nchege tunnel under your land." At this, the Ibex scoffed. "Of course. Why'd I expect an outlander to do a good job." Kovu tensed up, and unsheathed his claws for a moment while his back was turned to leave. "Case closed" he said through gritted teeth as he left to settle the next dispute.

Kion, who was occupied patrolling the border with Fuli, had other things on his mind. "So, Fuli…" The lion asked, trying to look for words to break the awkward silence that often came with patrolling around with this serious cheetah. "How is your family doing?" "They're just fine" Fuli replied, dismissing the question."Why do you ask?" Kion was verbally cornered for a moment. "No particular reason. I just want to… make sure all of my guard members are doing fine, that's all." That was half true. He did care for all of the members of the guard. However, Fuli in particular was the one he cared about more than the others. "I'm at the top of my game, Kion. Don't worry." Fuli replied. Kion stepped a bit closer to her as they walked forward. "Are you sure? Fuli, if there's ever something wrong, you can just-" "Yes, I understand, Kion! I'm fine, now can we please focus on the patrol." Kion dropped a bit, stammering out some words. "Look, Fuli, I- I mean, you and I- there's something-" Fuli interrupted him, mid sentence. "I smell something. Coming towards us fast." Kion, broken up from his speech, snapped immediately into guard leader mode. "What direction?" "East and…" Fuli sniffed again, "high." "High? Hold position, Fuli. We need to see what this is. I'll call in the Guard." Kion puffed out his chest and prepared to use his roar of the elders to call the rest of the guard members to his position. As he exhaled, a mighty roar broke out across the savannah, alerting Ono, Beshte, Bunga, and Ukatili, a snake who was new to the guard, to his position.

The entire guard was rallied up on Kion's position within five minutes. The lionesses and cubs were taken to Pride Rock swiftly, and the rest of the animals in the pridelands were prepared to take cover from any danger that was approaching. Kovu, Kiara, Simba, and Nala were all watching from Pride Rock, ready to run in if it were an invasion force.

"What have we got, Kion?" Bunga asked. "Something approaching fast from the east, flying." Kion explained. "Are you sure it's not just a flock of birds?" Ono replied. "No, this smells like something burning." Fuli explained. "Should I check it out?" Ono asked. "Yes" Kion replied. "Be careful."

Kovu and Kiara watched Ono take off and fly east. "What do you think it is?" Kiara asked. "I'm not sure, but I can smell it now. Smells like something burning. I hope your brother is okay." Kovu responded. Kiara came closer to Kovu, nuzzling him with a look of worry. "Me too, Kovu."

As Ono flew east, he could make out a flying object in the distance. He could tell already that it was not any sort of animal that he knew of, and the billowing smoke in the distance certainly signaled this. He could also tell it was approaching him very rapidly, and that he had to turn around and fly with the thing if he wanted to get a good look at it. Circling around and looking behind him, he watched the thing fly past him. What he saw shocked him. Some kind of shiny fake bird that was on fire. There was something spinning on the front of it, but what was more interesting was that there was some clear material on the front and sides which allowed him to look in. Inside the bird, there was something he had only heard about in legends. There was a human. It flew by him too quickly to get a good view of, but he could tell that the thing was descending rapidly, and it was probably going to land in the Pridelands. As quick as he could, he flew back.

"What did you see, Ono? I saw it fly past us, and it was going quite low, but was there anything you got a closer look at?" Kion asked as Ono landed. "There's a human in there!" The guard grew silent for a moment, before Bunga spoke up. "Kion, I can go check this thing out after it lands." "I'm going with you. Beshte and Ukatili, come with Bunga and I. Ono, you fly ahead to wherever this thing lands and warn us if something goes wrong before we get there. Fuli, quickly go to Queen Kiara and inform her of the human in this thing. Then, report back to wherever this thing lands." With that, all of the guard members quickly went about their assignments, Fuli running as fast as she could to Pride Rock.


	2. Chapter 2

"A human? No, no, this cannot be good, we have to do something"

Simba was furious at the news Fuli had to deliver. He, and certainly every lion in Africa, had heard tales of these humans. They lived in massive prides, and changed the landscape around them, often leaving little room for other animals. Most of all, though, they were dangerous. Incredibly dangerous. Rumors were abound that they carried objects of iron and wood that would slay any living being on command with a thunderous crack. They were rumored to make sharp fake claws and attach them to the ends of sticks. But whatever this flying thing was that landed in the Pridelands, it couldn't be good.

"We have to see what its intentions are. Maybe it's just passing through." Kiara chimed in.

"Kiara, I forbid you from going close to it. You know what they do!" Simba butted.

"Do I really know, Daddy? All I have heard is rumors."

"Do you really want to see the real thing? Kiara, I know you're the queen, and this might have gotten into your head-"

"Gotten into my head?" Kiara exclaimed.

"But as your father, I still have authority over you. I can overrule your decisions, and I forbid you from going close to it!"

Kiara scoffed at this attack. "Well, daddy, you know what? I may not be able to get close to it, but I'm going to be the one to see what it really wants. Think about it, what if it has a mate? A family? Are you going to deprive them of a husband, a father, just because of some rumors?"

This is when Kovu decided to chime in. "Kiara, he's your father. He just wants to keep you safe."

"But I'm not a cub anymore! Aren't you supposed to support me as your wife, Kovu?"

"His job is to look out for your well being, Kiara." Nala added. "Trust me. I've been married to Simba for years. If he blindly supported everything I did, and I did the same to him, we would be far from good mates. I think everybody should calm down and try to remember exactly what we're dealing with."

"Listen, Kiara. Sure, I... may be a bit intimidated by your father." Kovu started.

"Intimidation, is that what this is?" Simba interjected.

"And! And, I respect him. But Kiara, you know that if I didn't think what he's saying was a good idea for you, I'd contradict it. Kiara, he makes a good point. You are the most important lioness in these lands. If you were hurt, the pride that depended on you may fall apart. Your family would fall apart."

Kovu came in close and nuzzled Kiara, earning a small frown from Simba. "I would fall apart. Don't you see?"

Kiara quickly jerked away from her mate. "Fine. I understand. I'll stay away from it. But don't think for a moment that I won't try to help what could be an innocent creature." With that, Kiara ran off the promontory into the cave.

"Should I have a talk with her, Simba?" Nala asked.

"Yes, do that. I think she could relate to a more feminine voice better. I love you, Nala."

They nuzzled, and Nala left the cave, leaving Simba and Kovu alone on the promontory.

"Kovu, I need you to listen to me very closely" Simba said.

"Yes, sir" Kovu replied.

"Look, Kovu, you're a member of the pride now, you don't have to call me sir. I'm family, we accept you just like family" Simba added as an afterthought.

"Yes, sir" Kovu replied again, before stumbling on his words, realizing his mistake.

"No, Kovu, I- look, nevermind. Kiara- she's a sympathetic soul, which is great. However, she'll be hell bent on helping this human. We can't let that happen" Simba continued.

"But, her word is law, right? We couldn't do anything about it" Kovu responded.

"Sort of. As her father, I can still veto her actions. However, being too ham-handed with this law doesn't do too well with the animals of the pridelands. We need something more subtle than that."

"What are you suggesting? Mutiny? That I turn against my mate?"

"Look, Kovu, you said it yourself, you're looking after her, and by extension, the pridelands. Now, while her word is law, your word is also law."

"Wait, what? I thought-"

"No, your word is law unless I veto it or Kiara says otherwise, since she has the royal blood."

"This is quickly becoming very confusing" Kovu said, rubbing a paw on his forehead.

"Look, all I'm saying is that you need to give orders to my son, Kion, to… well…" Simba stammered.

"To what? Spit it out, Simba!"

"To get rid of the human." Simba replied.

"They- Simba- I- you want me to kill-" Kovu said in shock.

"No, no, I'm not a murderer! I hate killing, it drives me mad. Even with Scar, it - Look, the point is, I'm not saying to kill him. I can't kill in good conscience. I'm saying that we need to find a way to drive it out. That… could be a bit of a grey area. And if it does end up killing him, it still means we don't have a human in the Pridelands. Just make sure he doesn't find anything for himself here. We have to drive him out. He can't be given food, water, shelter, or if he's injured... medical treatment."

* * *

The human crawled out of the tangled wreck of the former airplane as the entire guard looked on from hiding spots. What Kion could immediately gather was that this human was limping, clearly injured with a large, fleshy laceration on his left leg. The human crawling out of the metal bird was, clearly and loudly, cussing up a storm. Kion, while feeling a little sympathy, still was careful of his actions, watching the human closely as he continued writhing in pain.

"No… No, this can't be happening!" The human cried out in pain, causing his unseen stalkers to wince a little bit.

The human continued crawling on the ground to what looked like the tail of whatever it was he came out of.

"Fuli, I think it's here on accident. I think he's lost. He doesn't mean anything wrong" Kion whispered to the cheetah next to him.

"Yeah… damn, what do we do about this?" Fuli stumbled.

"For now, tell the others to set up a perimeter. Don't let the human see us, but try to make sure that no harm comes his way. We'll find a way to get him out of here" Kion said.

"So you're saying he's here on accident?" Kovu asked.

"We suspect that he crashed that metal bird here, and he just wants to find a way back to his human pride. We've set up a perimeter to keep it safe."

Just as he said that, the human let out another cry of pain from behind Kion, still unaware of the guard watching him.

"It's injured?" Kovu asked.

"Yeah. A huge gash on one of its legs. If we want to help it, we need to get Rafiki over here, fast. Ono has already sent for him." Kion replied.

"What? No! Send Rafiki back, Simba wants to drive that thing out quickly." Kovu replied.

"Simba said that?" Kion replied. "That's not at all like him. Why does he want this thing dead?"

"I don't know, but he didn't explicitly say dead. He said out. I think he said if he happens to die somehow, we won't intervene.. I think he's trying to look out for the good of the pride. That's not my choice."

"It isn't. It's Kiara's choice, isn't it?" Kion inquired.

"Simba's afraid Kiara will try to get too close to it and end up dead. He's ordering this without her knowledge. She wants to try and help this thing out no matter what its intentions are."

"Well, we still don't know how dangerous it is, but we need to help it somehow, don't we?"

Kovu paused for a moment. "What did you say the reason for this perimeter was?"

"To make sure nothing hurts it."

"That's just been changed" A look of guilt crossed Kovu's face as he gave the order. "Make sure nothing comes in here and tries to give this thing aid. It's not my decision, it's Simba's"

"Kion, new information. The human has one of those thunder sticks" Fuli said with urgency.

"What? Show me." Kion said.

Turning around, the trio saw the human pull out a small piece of metal. He somehow pulled it apart, exposing some kind of cylindrical part.

The human spoke, "Dammit. Just one bullet. Great, that's just enough for me to OFF MYSELF WITH!" The human quickly threw the thing on the ground out of frustration, accidentally opening his wound up a little bit more and causing him to cry out in pain yet again, earning winces from the entire guard and Kovu.

"He doesn't even have enough of whatever that is to do anything with." Kion said.

"It's still reasonable suspicion. Don't let anything in, and whatever you do, don't try to talk to it." Kovu responded.

"I thought I was in this guard to help people." Kion lamented before giving the order to his guard.

"You're in this guard to help the pridelands." Kovu responded.

"Nice thing for a former outlander to say." Kion retorted.

"You say you're all high and mighty, but where the hell were you when all the Prideland's lionesses were fighting Zira just two days ago? Riddle me that, Kion!"

"I was off looking for my Sister! Making sure she hadn't killed herself! By the time we had returned to Pride Rock, the battle was over, Simba had just accepted you for some reason, and by some miracle, you were ready to shack up with my sister!"

"Look, just- This is not my decision, okay? Talk to your father. He's the one who wants to get this thing out of the pridelands by any means necessary" With that, Kovu turned around to leave this absolute nightmare.

"One more thing, Kion. Please, don't tell Kiara about this. She'll overrule this and put us in a dangerous spot if she figures this out."

"One loving mate you are." Kion scoffed.

"I do love her! Look, I'm doing this so that she doesn't endanger the pridelands."

Kovu left, wondering if there was a hint of truth in Zira's words about Simba being manipulative. There was no doubt that Simba was a nice person, and he didn't want to do this. However, he was still ready to kill what could be an innocent animal. This was all too much to think about. He would think later. Right now, he had to get back to Pride Rock.

* * *

As night fell upon the Pridelands, the guard took turns watching the human, monitoring his movements to make sure nothing got in or out of the perimeter they had set up. Ono was on watch. Thankfully, because he wasn't a large predator like the others, he could hide in plain sight. Ono was curious about these humans, and he wanted to know a little more about this one.

He quickly noticed that the human had wrapped his leg in something, something unnatural. And, from the looks of it, he had punctured a hole in the wing of his metal bird, releasing some kind of liquid. He was pouring it onto some kind of pile of logs with solemn determination. That's when he noticed him pull out small twigs with red tops. Ono was entranced as he saw the human go through this unnatural ritual, this odd rite of something, he couldn't put together what it was. Then, the human rubbed the small twig on some sort of box, setting it ablaze.

Normally, this would prompt him to warn the guard, but Ono was in a trance. This human was going to intentionally start some kind of fire when he couldn't move. There had to be a catch. This couldn't be meant to destroy the Pridelands… could it?

As the human dropped the small, burning twig on the logs with the wing liquid, they immediately set ablaze into an impressively sized fire. Something was odd, though. The fire wasn't spreading. An area was cleared out around it, and surrounded by rocks that the human had managed to drag despite his horrible leg. Ono was absolutely astounded. The human had controlled a destructive force, fire, and used it to his advantage. What happened next astounded him further.

The human dipped his shiny fake claw into the fire, while saying "I hope this knife's sturdy." So that's what he called it, eh? A knife? Okay, Ono thought to himself. After the Knife had heated up to what seemed to be enough to burn skin, the human took off the wrap on his calf. The wound was absolutely grotesque, enough to make Ono avert his eyes for a moment. The human, after taking a few deep breaths and putting something in his mouth to bite down on, applied the hot blade to the wound, letting out pained screams loud enough to wake up the royal family half a mile away. What in the world was he doing, Ono thought. But after the human had finally burned the entire area of his wound, Ono saw. The heat melted the skin around the wound together. After watching the human grab some other kind of miracle liquid, apply it to his wound (causing yet another shout of pain), and reapply a fresh wrap, Ono had realized that he was going to heal the wound no matter what Simba's wishes were. Part of him was disappointed that he couldn't help out Kovu and Simba with their goal of waiting for him to die of his wounds. However, part of him was happy that the human had found a way to do it. By watching the human, he was growing attached. He realized that perhaps humans weren't inherently evil like he had previously thought. Maybe, he'd become a friend of Simba before his human pack (or herd, or pride, he didn't know the term) had found him. Maybe.


End file.
